Thiago Alves vs. John Howard targeted for UFC 124

One day after Thiago Alves (17-7 MMA, 9-4 UFC) welcomed a fight with Mike Pierce, who on Tuesday called him out on MMAjunkie.com Radio, the former contender is now expected to meet John Howard (14-5 MMA, 4-1 UFC) at UFC 124.

Sources close to the event today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that verbal agreements are in place and contracts will be sent out shortly.

While not yet officially announced by the promotion, UFC 124 is expected to take place Dec. 11 at the Bell Centre in Montreal and feature a welterweight title fight between current champion Georges St-Pierre and challenger Josh Koscheck, who coach opposite each another on “The Ultimate Fighter 12.” It’s the promotion’s fourth trip to the Canadian city.

Alves is looking for redemption after his most recent performance. The American Top Team standout met perennial contender Jon Fitch at UFC 117 this past August and lost a unanimous decision. Added to the sting of defeat was his struggle to make weight for the contest. He showed up one pound over and was fined 20 percent of his fight purse by commission officials.

Alves appeared flat and tired throughout the three-round contest, his first fight in more than a year after multiple medical issues twice delayed the fight, a rematch of a 2006 contest in which Fitch took home a TKO victory. Afterward, UFC president Dana White chastised Alves for missing weight and not-so-subtly hinted that the Brazilian would be moving up a weight class to middleweight.

But Alves said he would be at a competitive disadvantage in the middleweight division, and he subsequently convinced the promotion to give him another shot at 170 pounds. He hired nutritionist Mike Dolce and said Wednesday that he is walking around at 193 pounds, much lighter than his usual “off-season” weight of 205 pounds.

Howard was most recently seen at UFC on Versus 2 this past month and left unfinished business inside the octagon when he met Jake Ellenberger. After some successful exchanges, Ellenberger took the fight down and landed several elbows that caused Howard’s left eye to rapidly swell. Doctors intervened in the third round when it became clear Howard couldn’t see and the TKO victory went to Ellenberger.

Prior to the setback, Howard was on the ramp up the 170-pound class with four consecutive wins, including a thunderous KO victory over Daniel Roberts that earned him a “Knockout of the Night” at UFC on Versus 1.

A win over Alves would undoubtedly put Howard on the fast track to contendership.

The Latest

In this week’s Trading Shots, Danny Downes and Ben Fowlkes look at Ronda Rousey’s 34-second victory over Bethe Correia at UFC 190 and try to put it into terms that capture the moment without getting swept away by it.

A total of 26 fighters got their chance to shine on Saturday as part of UFC 190 at Rio de Janeiro’s HSBC Arena. Now that UFC 190 is in the books, it’s time to commence MMAjunkie’s “Three Stars” ceremony.

The man known for cranking submissions to the point of injury added eye-gouging to his repertoire. But is the controversy of Rousimar Palhares too essential to his bizarre, awful appeal for his employers to take any meaningful action against him?